24 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do with Baby Shampoo
Updated: Jul. 31, 2019
What's gentle enough to use to cleanse your baby's tender hair and skin but strong enough to wash your car? Why, baby shampoo! Who knew?!
Wash your face
If it’s gentle enough for your baby’s skin, then it stands to reason it would be gentle enough for your own. That’s how Heidi Klum came to include baby shampoo as part of her go-to beauty routine. She calls it “gentle” and “thorough,” according to Hello Giggles.
Pamper yourself with these homemade face mask recipes!
Ouch-less adhesive bandage removal
“Just rip off the Band-aid,” they say, but if you’re not brave enough (and who really is?), you can rub a drop of baby shampoo onto the adhesive, and it should curl right up off your skin. And if it’s your toddler who’s in need of removal, you can add a drop of food colouring and ask your toddler to help you “paint” the bandage, suggests Very Well Family.
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Clear your sinuses
A neti pot can help keep your sinuses clear and eliminate snoring, but if you add a drop of baby shampoo (a half teaspoon to eight ounces of saltwater), it can help you get over a sinus infection, according to Mas Takashima, MD, director of the Sinus Center at Baylor University. “We tell our children to wash their hands with soap, not with plain water, in order to clean bacteria from their hands. The same concept is being used in the sinuses,” writes Dr. Takashima.
Here are more tips on how to treat a sinus infection.
Treat minor eye inflammations
Got red, itchy eyelids? You could have blepharitis, which the American Optometric Association says is a common eye disorder often caused by bacteria. And just as with sinus infections, eye infections can respond well to a bit of baby shampoo, which is famous for not irritating baby’s eyes. Simply apply a warm compress, then gently scrub your eyelids with a dilute mixture of baby shampoo plus water or saline solution (a drop or two of shampoo to eight ounces of the water or saline).
Learn what it could mean if you have a red spot on your eye.
Remove hair colour
How could something gentle enough to use on your eyes and in your nose be strong enough to remove hair colour? Just add a bit of baking soda to your baby shampoo, and scrub that excess color away. It might take a few rounds of “lather, rinse, repeat,” but beauty experts swear by it, and it’s a lot more gentle than bleach.
Here are the sneaky reasons your hair is falling out.
Clean costume jewelry
Diamonds are the hardest substance on earth, right? So it wasn’t surprising to me when my jeweler recommended cleaning my engagement ring by boiling it in a mixture of baby shampoo and water. But did you know you can also use baby shampoo to clean costume jewelry, which is notoriously less durable than diamonds? Simply mix together one drop each of baby shampoo and water, and apply with a Q-Tip or a soft toothbrush. Then rinse with cool water and dry thoroughly.
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Mop the floor
If you’re trying to reduce your use of harsh chemicals when cleaning your house, consider using baby shampoo (one tablespoon to a gallon of water) to mop your floors. It’s gentle, but it helps remove oils, and it rinses clean, without residue.
Learn the mistakes you keep making when cleaning with bleach.
Clean carpets
Steaming your carpets doesn’t mean you have to use harsh chemicals. As with your floors, you can use baby shampoo instead. Just add a capful, et voila, your carpet isn’t just clean, it won’t irritate your crawling baby’s skin.
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Clean your stovetop
Baby shampoo is formulated to gently cleanse baby’s skin of the excess oils that can contribute to skin irritations. That means it’s also good at cleaning your stovetop. Since your stovetop is more durable than your baby’s skin, try mixing a sprinkle of baking powder for extra cleaning power.
Check out these clever uses for baking powder!
Clean and maintain your leather furniture
Your leather furniture doesn’t require any special “leather cleaning” solution. In fact, it’s kind of begging you not to treat it so harshly, according to the Krazy Koupon Lady. Instead, just use a bit of baby shampoo, mixed with water and applied with a damp (not soaking wet) cloth. No need to rinse. Simply buff off any excess.
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Clean your leather jacket
Your leather jacket doesn’t want to be subjected to harsh cleaners any more than your leather furniture does. As with your leather furniture, simply dissolve a bit of baby shampoo in water, wipe it on the leather with a soft, damp cloth, and dry with a soft, dry cloth.
Remove sweat stains from a leather hat
Got sweat stains on your leather hat? That’s another job for baby shampoo. Simply wet a cloth, add a drop or two of baby shampoo, and work up to a good lather. Then gently apply it to the sweat stains, and wipe the excess away with a clean, damp cloth.
You probably have these other DIY sweat stain solutions in your home right now.
Hand-wash hosiery and other delicates
It stands to reason if your hose and other delicates call for mild soap, then what could be more mild than baby shampoo? Lifehacker agrees and even suggests using a bit of hair conditioner to your final rinse for added silkiness.
Make doing laundry less of a hassle with these laundry hacks!
Hand-wash cashmere
Did you know that cashmere is basically hair? That’s what we learned from Oprah.com. And if baby shampoo is gentle enough for baby’s hair, then why not for your cashmere sweater? Simply hand wash with baby shampoo and lay flat to dry.
Go ahead and wash all the wool things
If it’s gentle enough for cashmere, then it’s gentle enough for all of your wool items, right? Right. Simply wash your woolens the way you’d wash your cashmere, and consider adding a drop or two of conditioner as “fabric softener” to eliminate winter static.
Find out whether steaming or ironing is the best method for your garment.
Un-shrink a sweater
While baby shampoo is gentle enough to clean your cashmere and other wool, it can also help you to gently stretch the fibres. Baby shampoo has a knack for relaxing the fibres of your cashmeres and other woolens so that you can stretch them out, gently, while still damp, according to Country Living.
Unstick a Zipper
Got a stuck zipper? Try rubbing a little baby shampoo on it, and as long as the zipper’s not broken, it will be running smoothly again in a jiff.
Shampoo your Yorkie
Any dog that has “hair,” rather than fur (such as a Yorkshire Terrier), is a great candidate for bathing with baby shampoo. It’s gentle enough not just for your human baby, but also for your fur baby!
Go ahead and shampoo your furry dogs
But why stop at Yorkshire Terriers? Baby shampoo happens to be a great option for all dogs, according to animal experts such as the Dogington Post.
Wash your makeup brushes
Makeup brushes can be pricey, so you want to treat them with care. And you’ll be doing just that if you wash them in a mixture of baby shampoo and water, according to Glamour.
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Make washable paint for fun kiddie baths
Just a drop of food colouring and a bit of cornstarch added to baby shampoo, and you have bathtub paints for your kids.
Make slime!
Kids love slime. But the process of making slime can be kind of gross if you follow a classic recipe, which like this one, uses borax and glue. Luckily, there’s an alternative: baby shampoo plus salt!
Make a slip ‘n slide
Like slime, kids can’t resist a “slip ‘n slide,” and how awesome would it be to make your own in a pinch? Just take a sheet of plastic, lather it up with baby shampoo and water, and keep the hose on. Not only will your kids be happy, but they’ll also be clean.
Look no further than your kitchen to keep annoying odours at bay.
Wash your car
Simply mix up two capfuls per bucket of water, and have at it. It’ll look shiny and new, and you’ll smell as delicious as a baby’s head when you’re through.
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